Why Triple H And Vince McMahon Are Destined For A Huge Fallout

Johnny Gargano Bronson Reed
WWE.com

Reed was NXT North American Champion when Vince decided to take a look at him. With the main roster in view, Reed promptly dropped the title to Isiah Swerve Scott in a rushed one-episode angle. And then he was released. Vince plunged NXT's midcard scene into chaos on two separate whims, and it's not as if Reed is a pesky purveyor of flippy sh*t. He is a large hoss monster that Vince in theory was predisposed to "getting". By bantering off this specific performer under those specific circumstances, there is only one way to interpret the message: in August of 2021, Vince doesn't trust Triple H to do literally anything.

He doesn't even trust Triple H to strap up the right top guy. The Karrion Kross hatchet-job is astonishingly petty even by Vince's standards. The heavyweight champion of Deep South Wrestling was never promoted on WWE television, but if he was, he would have been booked in the exact same way: as a generic just-a-guy with a 1-2 win/loss record.

To compound this, in the space of a week, by releasing Ric Flair and framing Johnny Gargano as the epitome of NXT's failings, Vince McMahon has essentially binned off Triple H's idealised past, present and future. It's not so much naive as impossible, at this point, to interpret the goings-on in WWE right now as Vince McMahon actively punishing Triple H. The man might as well have an inanimate mop as a love interest which he clutches as Kane rolls his wheelchair off the Monday Night RAW stage. This is the spectacular extent to which the man has been buried in recent months.

Vince has stigmatised Triple H as a man who betrayed a core WWE tenet by flirting with the so-called minor leagues, and failed in courting the most rancid pocket of a wrestling fandom Vince seems to broadly hate. Triple H is a man who sold for the marks, in Vince's eyes. This is verboten, no matter who he married.

CONT'D...(4 of 6)

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Michael Sidgwick is an editor, writer and podcaster for WhatCulture Wrestling. With over seven years of experience in wrestling analysis, Michael was published in the influential institution that was Power Slam magazine, and specialises in providing insights into All Elite Wrestling - so much so that he wrote a book about the subject. You can order Becoming All Elite: The Rise Of AEW on Amazon. Possessing a deep knowledge also of WWE, WCW, ECW and New Japan Pro Wrestling, Michael’s work has been publicly praised by former AEW World Champions Kenny Omega and MJF, and current Undisputed WWE Champion Cody Rhodes. When he isn’t putting your finger on why things are the way they are in the endlessly fascinating world of professional wrestling, Michael wraps his own around a hand grinder to explore the world of specialty coffee. Follow Michael on X (formerly known as Twitter) @MSidgwick for more!